


The Joke

by SusanaPolo



Category: Batman - All Media Types, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 18:44:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7768945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SusanaPolo/pseuds/SusanaPolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I <a href="https://twitter.com/NerdGerhl/status/764186511805976576">said it</a>, Christian Ward <a href="https://twitter.com/cjwardart/status/764476297888301056">drew it</a>, so I had to write it. A bit of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Joke

PANEL 1

Clarice Starling steps up to the safety glass front of a dank, basement cell. We can't see the person inside, but, from within, a voice...

VOICE (OFF)

**Hello** , Clarice.

PANEL 2

CLARICE (OFF)

Good afternoon, Dr. Quinzel.

Harley Quinn, dressed in Arkham's prisoner duds, waves cheerfully from the center of her cell.

HARLEY

Aww, come **onnn** , it's just us girls here! Call me **Harley**.

CLARICE (OFF)

All right, Harley. Do you know why I'm here?

PANEL 3

Clarice takes a seat on the metal folding chair in front of the cell.

HARLEY (OFF)

Oh, **sure**. Word got around about your little survey **real** fast.

(cont)

So how do ya **want** me? On my faintin' couch? Or how 'bout my faintin' toilet?

CLARICE

Wherever you're most comfortable.

PANEL 4

Harley flops onto her bed on her back.

HARLEY

**Ooh** , good answer. You really got a lot of **experience** in this talkin' to psychiatrists in little dark boxes thing!

PANEL 5

Clarice will not be riled, as she lays a pad of paper on her lap.

CLARICE

Now, Harleen --

HARLEY (OFF)

Ah-ah-ah!

PANEL 6

Harley has twisted horizontally on the bed, laying her legs up the wall, dangling her neck off the other side of the mattress to watch Clarice upside down.

HARLEY

I **told** ya, call me **Harley**. Two girls with so much **in common** should be on a first name basis.

PANEL 7

Clarice will still not be riled, as she takes up her pen.

CLARICE

What **do** we have in common, Harley?

HARLEY (OFF)

An academic interest in the deepest workings of the human psyche.

(cont)

A familiarity with firearms.

PANEL 8

Still upside down, Harley clasps her hands next to her face in an exaggerated but seemingly genuine expression of lovesickness.

HARLEY

Having our lives changed **forever** by a chance encounter with a **single** , **famous** and **powerfully** charismatic man...

PANEL 9

Clarice remains professional, but she has been hearing this said snidely behind her back for years. There is a cold fury underneath her words.

HARLEY (CONT)

A professional acquaintance that **blossoms** into something more than **either** of you could **eve** \--

CLARICE

My relationship with Dr. Hannibal Lecter has **never** been romantic.

PANEL 10

Harley shrugs, dismissively.

CLARICE (OFF)

**Nor** have I ever become an **eager accomplice** to a **single** one of his crimes.

HARLEY

Don't knock it, Clarice.

(cont)

But that's who you want to talk about, **isn't it**?

PANEL 11

The infamous, eye-piercing image of Hannibal Lecter, standing politely before the glass in his cell, hands clasped behind his back, predatory in his stillness.

PANEL 12

Harley stands in the same spot in hers, hands resting on the glass, a gentle expression on her face.

HARLEY

You wanna talk about **my Joker**.

PANEL 13

Clarice collects herself from her misassumption of Harley's question.

CLARICE

I thought it might be good to start with a person who has had the **largest** recent effect on your life, **yes**.

PANEL 14

Clarice is surprised, knocked of track for a moment, again.

HARLEY

You first.

CLARICE

I beg your pardon?

PANEL 15

Harley smiles.

HARLEY

I read your **papers** , you know. Just 'cause I'm on the **other** side of the glass now doesn't mean I don't **keep up**.

(cont)

You tell me **your** academic opinion of him -- I'll tell you **mine**.

PANEL 16

Clarice sits, silent.

PANEL 17

Clarice begins to talk, confidently, spelling out a truth in perceived defiance of the woman in front of her.

CLARICE

Despite his much remarked upon commitment to **chaos** , there is **nothing** about the behavior of the man known as 'the Joker' to indicate that he is **in any way** irrational.

PANEL 18

Clarice even looks a bit dismissive as she continues. 

CLARICE

He has no compulsions, **no obsessions** ,

(cont)

not even his infamous vendetta with **the Batman** ,

(cont)

that he has not temporarily abandoned when it was **expedient** or **convenient** in order to accomplish secondary goals of maintaining his freedom or his resources.

PANEL 19

Harley, covers her face in her hands, eyes wide above them, slumping slightly against the glass, shoulders curling in. She could be starting to cry... Or laughing?

CLARICE (OFF)

**Any** stand up comedian will tell you that the spontaneity of humor belies the **focus** required to study and produce it, and so the Joker's **carefully crafted** persona and the crimes that he commits belie a **keen understanding** of reality.

PANEL 20

Harley squeezes her eyes shut, tears leaking from them. 

CLARICE (OFF)

He is a **sadist** , a narcissist,

(cont)

Perhaps even a **genius** ,

(cont)

But it is **obvious** that he considers his actions closely and carefully **at all times**.

PANEL 21

Head up, gaze strong, Clarice drives home her point.

CLARICE

We call the Joker crazy because it is a comforting **lie** , to think that such evil could **never** be joyfully committed by a rational mind.

HARLEY (OFF)

_Heh_.

PANEL 22

Harley wipes at her eyes, unable to hold back her laughter any more.

HARLEY (YEAH JUST GO CRAZY WITH THE LETTERING HERE)

Hee! Hehehe heh heh ha ha ha HA HA

(cont)

You **get** it, Clarice!

(cont)

Hehehehee! You **get** it!

(cont)

**That's** the **joke**!

PANEL 23

Clarice Starling walks away from Harley Quinn's cell, dissatisfied. Harley presses against the glass, yelling after her.

HARLEY

I **told** you we have a **lot** in common!


End file.
